HANAU, Germany (AP) — The federal prosecutor’s office on Thursday of the investigation into a mass shooting in the German city of Hanau that left 11 deaths, including the suspect, before reports that it could have a far-right motive. The Karlsruhe prosecutor’s office, which deals with important cases, said it plans to hold a press conference later on Thursday.
Police would be reviewing a video that the suspect would have posted online several days earlier detailing a conspiracy theory about child abuse in the United States, the German news agency dpa reported. The authenticity of the recording could not be verified immediately. Nine people were killed in two hookah halls overnight. Police later said they found the alleged gunman and another person dead inside a house not far from the second bar. A spokesman for Hanau’s prosecutor’s office, Markus Jung, upheld the death toll but declined to comment on the alleged video or provide details about the suspect or victims.” We don’t believe there are any more attackers,” Jung told The Associated Press, agents cordoned off and searched the apartment in the Kesselstadt district of the city, near the site of one of the shootings, following witness statements about a car on the run. Police said police were working to confirm the identities of the two bodies found in the dwelling and that at the moment it could not provide details on the victims of the previous incidents.” Thoughts this morning are with the people of Hanau, where this terrible crime was committed,” a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Twitter. Deep condolences to the affected families, who mourn for their dead,” added spokesman Steffen Seibert. “We hope the wounded will recover soon.” Police had previously reported that eight people were killed and five more were injured. Authorities said they saw a dark vehicle drive away from the site of the first shooting and then reported another about two and a half (1 mile and a half) away. Officers flooded hanau city centre, cordoning off the site of one of the shootings as a helicopter flew over the area. You could see a car covered with thermal paper, with broken glass next to it. Forensic experts dressed in white monkeys gathered evidence.
Hookah lounges are places where people gather to smoke flavored tobacco in water pipes originating in the Middle East.
“This was a terrible night that will surely occupy us for a long time and we will remember it with sadness,” Hanau Mayor Claus Kaminsky told Bild Newspaper. Lawmaker Katja Leikert, from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party and representative of the city in the German parliament, wrote on Twitter that it was “a real horror scenario for all of us.” Hanau is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfort. It has about 100,000 inhabitants and is located in the state of Hesse.
